10 HOUND AND HOEN ; 



side. The ice once broken, it was all right ; and after 

 that, as he generally had a nice easy horse of his own 

 or a mount from some one of his friends, I always 

 looked for a ride to covert on a Tuesday and possibly 

 Thursday morning, with dear old George Carter ; and 

 proud I felt at seeing the greetings on all sides, as we 

 appeared together at the meet. The red coat and 

 cap ^vere, after a time, but not at first, as will be seen, 

 once more in the right place ; and it -was a question 

 whether they most became the old man, or he them. 

 His seat in the saddle was as good as ever, and his 

 voice had lost nothing of its rich and musical note ; but 

 it was in the evening of a hunting or non-hunting day, 

 during the season, that I always looked forward to my 

 chat with old Carter. During the summer I saw him 

 every day and all day, as it might happen ; but as the 

 days drew in and hounds were out, I rarely missed 

 that last hour or so before going in for the evening 

 meal ; and six o'clock, or thereabouts, regularly found 

 me in old George Carter's snug parlour, just to have 

 a talk of hunting, or something connected with it; 

 and then I gathered the incidents of his former life, 

 as they came from his own lij)3. It is to those pleasant 

 half-hours that I can now look back with satisfaction ; 

 and the only regret is that they are days that can 

 never come again. 



